Mount Avalon/ Mount Field/Mount Willey 3-13-07

Mount Avalon 3442' Mount Field 4340’ and Mount Willey 4285’

8.8 Miles 3050' Elevation gain

Kevin, Judy and Emma

Taking a much needed break from work, on Tuesday Jude, Emma and I climbed Mounts Avalon, Field and Willey from Crawford Station. We followed the Avalon Trail to the summit of Avalon, then to the junction with the Willey Range Trail just below the summit of Mount Field. From there we took the Willey Range Trail south over Mount Field to Mount Willey, then back north over Mount Field and continued north to its junction with the A-Z Trail. From there we hiked east on the A-Z trail until the junction with the Avalon Trail which we followed back to Crawford Station.

The trail was well packed. The sky was overcast which kept the snow from softening up in the warm temps. We did have a brief flurry or two, but I think if it kept up it would have turned to rain, as it did that night. We wore our snowshoes through the entire hike which kept us from post-holing as others before us had done. Of note was a flock of no less than 150 Cedar Waxwings, seemingly drunk on fermented Mountain Ash Berries just below the summit of Mount Avalon.

Again we had a gorgeous hike through snow covered trees lining the trails. Often our thoughts drifted to Tom and Atticus, and we wondered if they were on the trail this day, and where they were. The sky was gray and brought many interesting cloud formations to look at, along with some flurries. While between Mounts Field and Willey we were able to watch one of these squalls roll across Mount Carrigain, making the clear view of this massive mountain turn to grey then back again as the storm passed.

Good views of the Presidentials were had most of the day as the heads of each President popped in and out of the clouds, playing hide and seek with us. We met an enthusiastic hiker on Mount Willey who had travelled all the way from Springfield, Massachusetts to hike by himself.

He was on his 47th 4000 footer, having just Mount Isolation to go. We briefly toyed with the idea of hiking down with him, as he had climbed up from the Ethan Pond Trail, and having him take us back up through the notch to our car, which he said he would be happy to do. We decided in the end to trudge back over Mount Field and follow the Willey Range trail back to where it meets the A-Z Trail and go down from there. This proved easier than we had envisioned, and we were soon over Mount Field again and on our way down. Another great winter hike, bagging two more 4000 footers.